Peter Erskine was already a 24-year-old big-band badass when he joined Weather Report in 1978, and his powerful, full-bodied sound helped the band reach the peak of its commercial success during his four-year tenure.

Peter Erskine was already a 24-year-old big-band badass when he joined Weather Report in 1978, and his powerful, full-bodied sound helped the band reach the peak of its commercial success during his four-year tenure. Erskine’s celebrated career after WR—as a session drummer/percussionist, artist/composer, and educator—has been filled with a long list of great bass players, including his nephew Damian Erskine, Gordon Johnson (brother of Jimmy), all-around L.A. monster Dave Carpenter, session god Will Lee, upright icons Marc Johnson and Eddie Gomez, L.A. bass legend Chuck Berghofer, Swedish first-call bassist Palle Danielsson, and fellow Weather Report alum Victor Bailey. Fortunately for us, Erskine’s memory is sharp, and his breezy, brazenly honest 320-page memoir is filled with juicy stories, humor, gratitude, and wisdom that will appeal to aspiring professionals and veterans alike.

The bassist most associated with Erskine, of course, is Jaco Pastorius, his rhythm-section partner in Weather Report, in Joni Mitchell’s Mingus band, on Jaco’s late-career classics Word of Mouth and Invitation, as well as on the posthumous Birthday Concert. “Jaco stories” are as numerous and diverse as the crowds who flocked to see him, but few knew “The World’s Greatest Bass Player” as well as Erskine, and even fewer are capable of creating a truly balanced portrait of Jaco, one that sheds great insight into the reasons why he remains such a polarizing figure. As a bonus, the digital edition of No Beethoven overflows with sumptuous and rare Weather Report images, a visual feast that perfectly complements the inspiring story of one of the most accomplished and popular drummers of the late 20th century

On this collection of mostly Latin-flavored groove-based tunes, bass ninja/educator/author Damian Erskine teaches a masterclass in leading from the bottom, giving his bandmates plenty of space while delivering carefully chosen solos and flaunting sumptuously recorded fretted and fretless tones.

In this follow-up to his previous book, Right-Hand Drive, seasoned bassist and acclaimed educator Damian Erskine goes well beyond the conventional methods of teaching improvisation within the context of jazz harmony.

IN THE TITLE OF VIRTUOSO JAZZ bassist Miroslav Vitous’s latest album, Remembering Weather Report [ECM, 2009], the word “remembering” carries a lot of weight. He was right there with Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul at the beginning of what we now know to be the seminal fusion band of the ’70s, but his era [Weather Report and I Sing The Body Electric, Columbia, 1971] was a more experimental, streamof- consciousness project than the form-and-groove driven, Pastorius-powered version. It’s this earlier vision and spirit that Vitous honors on Remembering. This allacoustic recording is a largely free-form improvised look back to what was, with a hopeful look ahead to the future. As Vitous says, the goal is “awakening the spirit of the direct communication, as now is the time to go in that direction. The old concept is long past-due expired.”

Imagine that when you were just starting out, you could sit down with an experienced, respected player over a cup of coffee and get the real deal on playing, gear, practicing, genres, reading, technique, solo bass, and being part of a rhythm section.